Friday 27 February 2009

Sacla Pesto

Saw this on the box the other day and thought it'd tie in quite nicely for my research into 'What is a line?' Sequential sounds edited using video and audio combined; not too distant to what I am trying to achieve within this module.



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Saturday 21 February 2009

What is a line? - An Intentional Statement

To give some clarification on the 'What is a line' front, I have finally narrowed down my direction of focus towards two main areas; even though a third might act as an on going sub-exploration if you will? In opting for the stimulus dictating the notion of "a connected series of events, actions or developments" the most promising direction for me so far is increasingly appearing to be that of sound-scaping (possibly VJ'ing to some); as a method of documenting audio and video simultaneously. As already researched, many adverts on television tend to use this, not to mention the many artists within the music industry that I have yet to document on this blog. In reference to this specific idea, I intend to research into minimalist composers as this form of music lends itself well to the direction in which I intend to take this project; the notion being that music can be created in linear sequences where no two notes/drums are hit at the same time.

In addition to this, I am very interested in documenting the journeys that I will be embarking upon over the duration of the coming two months. I'm keen to pursue this through the forms photography as well as illustration, but more significantly through found materials that will allow me to produce collaged work within sketchbooks and notebooks. What's more, video recording may also be of some relevance should I cross reference my ideas back to the processes mentioned above.

Finally and perhaps less importantly, I am quite intruiged to document the deconstruction of various items, objects and events as a way of flipping the idea of progression on it's head. Although this is interesting on a more abstract level, I am not ceretain as to how much I may persue this path given the time available.

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Friday 20 February 2009

Timber by Coldcut

Cheers to Ollie for introducing me to this... Another video which pretty much hits the nail on the head with what I want to achieve throughout this unit; more so than anything else I have come across so far to be honest.



I have some sounds collected from my journeys to/from home. That's about six hours worth of train traveling each time I visit. Stayed tune for an update soon.

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Tuesday 17 February 2009

Video Experiment 01 part two

The alternate edit of my original video experiment as promised. Think it works a lot better than the first draft; the audio aspect is much stronger and suitable to what I want to achieve. Still room for improvement however, but I'm not going to polish a turd... time to move onto bigger and better ideas.



.cya x

Monday 16 February 2009

Video Experiment 01 part one

Completed this a couple of nights ago, it's my first real experimentation using video editing software since my first year of A levels; I'm a bit rusty so many apologies for that. The editing style I was trying to aim for was in the vain of Prodigy's video for 'Smack My Bitch Up' that I posted earlier this month as research. I'm a big fan of the choppy and slightly disorientated outcome. For my own video I decided to use a favourite music track of mine on top of the originally recorded sound (Early Grave by Architects). I simply made this decision as it was the track that I was listening to on the recorded footage. In all honesty, I'm Not really sure if I like the final result; it's a bit gimmicky like a music video... it's a bit of a silly thing to say I know; but it just didn't turn out as successful as I would have liked. It's also not really the path I had intended for this project to take. Overall, it would have perhaps been more successful to just use the natural sound from the journey itself. I'll post an alternative once complete!



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Friday 13 February 2009

Re: Prodigy

If you don't know of this video I'm sure you've had your head in some sand for the past decade! Highly controversial, but I like it and it lends itself well to what I want to achieve within my 'What is a line?' brief.



Sadly as anticipated, this is the only clip I could find anywhere on the internet as it has been banned from most places.That's what the world is coming to I guess? Really like the editing style. Scratchy, chopped and confusing to the eyes. Would like to try documenting some of my journeys in this format; it relates well to The Chariot videos posted previously as well. Nice Nice.

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OUGD102 Design Process Evaluation

What practical skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

Over the duration of this module I feel that I have learnt numerous techniques which have helped me to develop on both a personal and professional level. In terms of hand crafted approaches, the most valuable skill I have learnt would be the process of binding and creating a full-section, perfect bound book. Not only did this look professional and slick given the correct craftsmanship, it also helped to inform my design process whilst dealing with the question 'what is a book?' Furthermore, in working with digital design for a book it was more than useful being familiarized with the program Indesign. Overall this definitely helped me to accomplish an array of mock up publications as well as final pieces.

What approaches to/methods of problem solving have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

On a personal level, I found this module really beneficial in correspondence to keeping a blog and gaining feedback from ever evolving updates. In addition, the habit of keeping design sheets and visually communicating ideas was essential in being able to develop my design process and therefore advance with the multiple approaches I had operating at any given time. Group work was also good in sharing methods of approach whilst rebounding ideas from one person to the next.

What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

From my point of view, I am particularly fond of the resolutions created where I worked alongside the subject matter in question; Joker cards in this instance. Most primarily, the bolt hinged cards were of significant success and should the idea have lent itself to presenting 100 cards more appropriately I would have most definitely pushed this further overall. In addition to this, I feel my research for this module was well informed and therefore lead to stronger idea development and design progression.

What weakness can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?

Although contradictory to the context of the brief, I would have liked to have reached a more professional level in terms of the final resolutions that were produced. Furthermore, I felt that in some cases I only scratched the surface with some methods of approach and as a result I would be more inclined to limit the range of design processes that I try to deal with in any given brief.

Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

1. Limit the range of ideas that I try to develop and instead develop a more focussed selection more comprehensively

2. Engage with my blog posting even more than previously as this seems to be an ever more useful process of acquiring feedback and development suggestions

3. Im going to try and keep myself busy between one module to the next as letting myself out of routine has notably resulted in a lack of motivation in some instances.

4. Build upon my skills with Indesign as I have come to realise this is a very useful piece of software; especially in conjunction with designing for a book.

5. Yes fred, I want to manage my time better! I have the worst sleeping patterns at the best of times and this can often lead to idling about the studio.

Are there any things we could have done differently that would have benefitted your progress?

Take a more aggressive line on how constructive feedback should be given, and not to book out mac suites and print rooms on days where you are going to pen in mandatory crit sessions.

How would you grade yourself on the following areas?

Attendance - 5
Punctuality - 3 or 4
Motivation - 2
Commitment - 3 or 4
Quantity of work produced - 3
Quality of work produced - 3
Contribution to the group - 5

Revealing ey?

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Laughing Is Fun For Everyone

Sadly I can't embed this video onto my blog because the BBC is a letdown, but either way follow this link and you'll soon discover how good laughing is for your health. You might even feel a little better yourself after watching it, it's well worth the click of a mouse button.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7870141.stm

For me it kind of ties in with the 100 rips video produced by Jimmy in the third year. Seeings as I'm on a roll I don't seem to be able to get hold of that either, but the main thing to for me is how the context of laughter (as a development from 'Joker') can have a beneficial and contextual purpose.

A video of '100 Laughs' anybody?

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Status Report 2

With the ever increasing pressure of getting this module complete, I bring to you a late night whirlwind round up of what has been going on over the past week or two in regards to my book of 100. Don't get your hopes up though, I still intend to maintain a good level of communication to keep you all well informed; put the kettle on now if you were thinking about it within the last 10 minutes or so...

First of all, as planned I finally got around to revisiting my approach of working with a book that was crafted from one sheet of paper. In referencing back to the work of Deb Rindl, I gave his method a shot which involved a very structured way of folding and cutting to get an A2 sheet of paper down into a tidy 'book like' creation. From completing this process I found that the book itself was quite novelty despite not having a content or designed finish, but once folded out into its original form it became quite irritating and not very user friendly; at least not to hold up with your hands anyway. With this under my belt I still deemed it relevant to design a few mock up ideas of what would perhaps be suitable for the posters content given its format. In looking back to some initial research, I took slight influence from Asli Kalinglu's 'Post-graduate of Fine Arts Catelogoue' which used an array of bright colours and simple type to house a very effective stylistic.





From here I similarly revisited a previous idea that I felt needed further development due to the feedback received in various crit sessions. Most primarily it was noted that I should round-off the corners of my A5 booklet to give it a more card like style that was obviously relevant to its content. Even though this was more of a finishing touch to the re-designing process, I think the overall idea was very beneficial although I would like to have seen it done using a professional die cutting system as opposed to my crafty hands and some scissors.



In terms of page design itself, I additionally inserted a copyrights page for a professional looking aesthetic and also rounded off the corners of my imagery to enhance the playing card stylistic in conjunction with the corners of the booklet all together.




With the most significant of my developments now complete, I subsequently began to look at a few binding methods that made use of the playing cards themselves. First and foremost, I researched into a range of old Japanese techniques due to the fact that playing cards are thought to have originated from Japan and China. Traditionally however, this method of stitching used hemp as a form of thread but as this wasn't available to me at the time I used contemporary wool that you might see your Grandma making a scarf out of. I wish this idea would have lent itself to 100 playing cards more than what it did.



Another idea that I wish would have worked with 100 cards in one solid entity was this method of using a bolted hinge to form a slide-out booklet not to dissimilar to paint swatch testers you'd find in stores such as B&Q. In looking back, had this approach been more suitable to what I had planned then I would have most certainly developed it into a final resolution. Not only do I feel it is interesting, engaging and above all; accessible. I think it's novelty aesthetic helps to house the purpose and context more appropriately than any of the other processes that I have come across so far. Ten books of ten would have been an ideal way to take this further had I have been able to acquire ten identical bolts. Shame.





Last but by no means least, a more abstract avenue that I decided to take my ideas down was in the form of a hand illustrated joke book. In looking at designers such as David Shrigley, David Foldvari and Seb Jarnot in particular, I felt that a really loose and relaxed approach to the illustration would be more suitable for what I was trying to convey. Overall as a final format, I borrowed the idea of using pull out postcards at A5 scale to house my 100 collected jokes/things that people found funny. Although I didn't get to complete this idea to it's full potential either I would have like to have used a heat binding process that allowed each card to be accessable within its own right for the purpose of perhaps being used as mini posters. In looking at the most suitable way of completing this, I would more likely be inclined to produce ten books of ten that would act as a collectable series; thus maintaining a higher level of interest.




Over and out.

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Wednesday 11 February 2009

Re: The Chariot

Ok, I am quite into a band called The Chariot; might know them might not? I don't know. Either way, here are a couple of their music videos shot using just still photography. Think it ties into well some of my 'What is a line?' ideas as it's theoretically all linear based editing such as in conventional animation. If you don't like the noise then just mute it and watch the style.





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Sunday 8 February 2009

Contemporary Time Lines; sort of...

Well well well, where better to nick a bit of inspiration from than the very home grown talents of third year BA Graphic Design. Kyle Bibby, I have never spoken to you; but I have seen you and have heard a lot about you. I might salute you soon as well; dig this.


Kind of taps into my love for beards, moustaches and general facial furniture. Also gives me a few ideas in regards to using moving image/animation. What is a line? I hear you ask... It's a documentation of time of course!

P.s Kylebibby.co.uk - worth a look.

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Thursday 5 February 2009

Re: Olivier Kugler

It brings back a few memories looking at Kugler's work; I haven't done so since my early days of A-levels. Really nice to see a few new additions on his website. Anyway, I just absolutely love his illustrative approach combined with use of colour, the latter of which I believe is done digitally. I feel his style and techniques fit in perfectly regarding the context of the 'What is a line?' brief. I have a few ideas for documenting journeys as a connected series of events myself so this may well be influential within those.





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Monday 2 February 2009

Re: Egon Schiele

Right... excuse me whilst I just take a deep breath. You see, after posting numerous videos in response to 'What is a line?' I feel that I am about to do something of which I should not speak; something that will probably get me into some strife with my fellow course mates and something that will bring shame upon my name... I'm going to pay respect to a Fine Artist and for once admire the talents and stylistics of such a creature. However, with the familiar name of Egon Schiele I'm hoping many will find it in their hearts to forgive me as I personally feel his work is not only unique and extremely effective, but also particularly influential; even to a Graphic Designer. His use of line is bold, daring and quite abstract, which overall culminates to a very successful method of drawing - a style I admired throughout my years of doing A levels in both Fine Art and Graphic Design. So with that said I'll leave you all to judge for yourselves, but to me... I have to say that I love this guy!





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Re: Geoff Fetridge

Just some more research looking into 'What is a line?' and yet again this is another video that I have seen thanks to Amber. REALLY liking this hand drawn animation stuff, definitely going to consider doing it myself in the near future. It looks really effective whilst maintaining a simple approach to illustration and in my opinion holds a really fresh and contemporary vibe within it's style! Here's some info on the artist straight from the horse's mouth as it were; The Directors Bureau.

'Geoff Fetridge is a graphic artist and director in Los Angeles, California. Originally from Canada, Geoff moved to California to earn his MFA for Graphic Design at the California Institute of the Arts. In 1996, Geoff founded his own design studio, Champion Graphics. He also worked as the art director for Grand Royal Magazine from 1995 - 1997.'



Enjoy. x

Audi A5

Thought I'd post up this little gem that I discovered courtesy of Amber; really like the work that must have gone into it's making. Of course it's important however to note on what level it fits into the problem 'What is a line?' I don't think you can really encapsulate the term 'line' anymore directly in my opinion. Perfect.

Sunday 1 February 2009

Through The Eyes of A Musician

Whilst being asked the question 'What is a line?' this immediately came into my mind as a more abstract answer. Obviously being a drummer myself this might be a bit of a biased opinion, but I'm sure any musician would agree that it qualifies. Simple process in theory, highly complex however in reality. Each player has to play one note / beat which then builds up into a coherent piece of music. It's amazing and in my personal opinion suitably answers the question. After all, it is technically a series of events leading from a beginning to an end; a journey perhaps? Anyway, I've also included the 'making of' video below for any of you that are compelled to see how it was done. Sweet.





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